


Where's the boyfriend?

by suckerfordeansfreckles



Series: Short Destiel Drabbles [16]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Best Friends, Embarrassed Dean Winchester, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Hidden Relationship, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mistaken for Being in a Relationship, Misunderstandings, Secret Relationship, Tears, everyone knows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 19:04:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18079154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suckerfordeansfreckles/pseuds/suckerfordeansfreckles
Summary: When they first started this, a few weeks back when Dean couldn’t help fighting his desperate longing anymore and cleared the distance between himself and his best friend Cas where they were lounging in the grass of Cas’ backyard, they decided to keep it just between them for a while.Just… just to be sure.





	Where's the boyfriend?

**Author's Note:**

> Written to fill the prompt: "secret relationship & mistaken for a couple/everyone knows"

When they first started this, a few weeks back when Dean couldn’t help fighting his desperate longing anymore and cleared the distance between himself and his best friend Cas where they were lounging in the grass of Cas’ backyard, they decided to keep it just between them for a while.

Just… just to be sure.

They’ve been best friends for ages, have been inseparable for years now. What if… what if, through their feelings and friendship and everything, it somehow still doesn’t work out. What if Cas realizes that Dean isn’t enough. Isn’t what he wants, after all.

Dean can’t even think about it without wanting to hurl, having to go back to tell all their friends: “Hey, just so you know, we have decided to break up, after just three days of this relationship. Yes, Cas and I, y’know? My best friend, love of my life? Yeah, that won’t work out.”

He isn’t quite sure why Cas wants to keep it secret, why he brought it up in the first place, but it’s alright. It works out. It’s good, exactly what Dean meant to ask Cas for, too. Someday, if they miraculously stay together and decide that they want to be together like that for even longer — maybe then they will tell their friends and families. It’s good, the way it is right now.

Dean is walking into the Roadhouse, currently, giving himself this lecture  _again_. So what if he can’t hold Cas’ hand and be all sappy when their friends are around? That’s alright. He’ll get to do that once they walk home together. Once he won’t embarrass Cas in public.

Fuck, this secret relationship thing is not working nearly half as well as Dean expected it to.

He wanders closer to their table, finds Charlie, Dorothy, Ro, Ash, Kevin and Benny already scattered around it. Cas, though, is nowhere to be seen just yet.

Dean sighs, tells himself to pull it together one last time, before he finally gathers the willpower to walk towards his friends. The smile on his lips feels a little fake, but he knows that it’ll change into a real one as soon as Cas turns up anyway.

“Hey, guys,” Dean greets the bunch, before he sinks down in an empty chair next to Charlie.

There are various greetings being thrown his way, but all he can focus on is Charlie. “Hey, Dean-bean. Where’s the boyfriend?” she asks, her grin entirely too big, and Dean can  _feel_ how quick his face starts to burn.

“Wha  — I mean. Cas? No, I  — we’re — “ he starts like an absolute idiot, but then he chokes on nothing, and the following coughing fit does nothing to help his situation. When he raises his head back up, all eyes are on him. “Um,” he squeezes past the lump in his throat, desperate to change the topic. “I don’t — we aren’t together or anything, what are you talking about?”

Charlie’s smug look is long gone, instead she’s now watching with wide eyes and a soft little smile. “Cas.”

“I — I mean,” Dean tries again, but when he gets stuck again, Charlie just nods past him with a little nudge of her chin.

Dean turns, and while he should have expected it, the sight of Cas standing there behind him, in a big blue hoodie and with flushed cheeks, is entirely too much.

“Sorry,” he pushes out, somewhere into Cas’ direction, and then he gets up and rushes towards the bathroom. He can’t stay and watch how Cas will react to Dean outing them. He can’t stay and listen to Cas denying it, making a joke about how he  _could never_.

He’s not sure how he makes it all the way to the bathroom without crashing into anyone, eyes blurry with tears that either come from anger at himself or sadness at the thought of what this will mean for their relationship.

Fuck. Why couldn’t he just shoot a joke back, and then leave it all be.

He stumbles through the bathroom door until he can sink back against the cold tile wall, eyes closed and hands in fists. This must have been the dumbest possible way for them to let their friends know about their relationship. All because, at the thought of Cas, his  _boyfriend_ , Dean’s brain turns to mush.

God, he’s ridiculous. He should just get back out there and stop acting like a baby. But he can barely hold back those stupid tears.

“Hey,” a soft voice whispers then, effectively interrupting the screaming in his mind. Dean doesn’t even have to open his eyes to know who it is, who’s currently wrapping warm fingers around his wrist. “Everything alright?”

Dean huffs, head dropping back against the tiles in a dull thud.

“I’m sorry,” Cas says, before Dean gets any words out. “I’m sorry, I knew you didn’t want them to know and now… What do you want to do? We can — I mean, we could break up? You can walk back out and tell them it was a mistake and—”

“Cas,” Dean says, a little too harsh, maybe, but he needs to stop this rambling. When he finally opens his eyes and looks at Cas, his boyfriend looks sad and shaken. “Cas, what the hell are you talking about?”

“You can tell them, it’s alright. I’ll handle it,” Cas mumbles, and his eyes look suspiciously watery, too.

“Cas, why would  _I_  want them to think that? Why would I want to break up with you?” Dean asks, and lifts his hand to cup Cas’ stubbly cheeks.

“I — wasn’t that why we didn’t tell them? Because I’m — well, I’m me,” Cas says, eyelashes fluttering.

“You brought it up, the whole secrecy thing! I thought you didn’t want them to know. Cas, I thought you were embarrassed of… of being with me,” Dean can’t help it, needs to get closer, so he fits himself right against Cas’ chest.

He isn’t sure he ever felt more relief than when Cas’ arms come up to pull him in closer, to hold him tight.

“You’re an idiot,” Cas says against his neck. “And so am I, apparently. Dean?”

“Mm?”

“I love you. I’ve loved you for years, and I thought you knew,” Cas says, and he sounds so sure and gentle, Dean gets teary all over again. “I wanna tell everyone I know.”

“Fuck, me too,” Dean whispers in answer, moving back just enough so that he can look back up into Cas’ eyes. “I’ve loved you for ages, too.”

They meet in a desperate kiss, soft lips pressing just a little too harsh, hands holding onto each other’s backs, hard enough to leave bruises.

When they wander back out, eyes mostly back to normal but their lips a little more red than before, their shaking fingers are woven together between them.

Dean’s voice trembles a little when he looks Charlie straight in the eyes, but Cas’ hand squeezing his own makes him feel more sure when he says: “Here he is. Cas. Y’know, my boyfriend.”

They get a squeal from Charlie, a few  _aww_ s and cheers and congratulations from the rest, and then they sink down on the bench, thigh-to-thigh, and Dean is pretty sure he’s happier than he ever has been before.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the rebloggable [Tumblr version](https://suckerfordeansfreckles.tumblr.com/post/183362565289/63-54-i-love-all-your-work-btw) of this story!!!


End file.
